


It's About Love

by Cat_Moon



Series: 101 Resurrections of Ianto Jones [6]
Category: Torchwood
Genre: Fix-It of Sorts, M/M, Not Canon Compliant
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-07 06:55:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,531
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20305300
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cat_Moon/pseuds/Cat_Moon
Summary: Jack has been tearing the universe apart, getting into trouble and trying to find a way to undo the horrible things done when the 456 returned.  Is he about the pay the price for his misbehaving, or does he have a way out?  Some things are worth the risk.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I think this was my first TW story. I wrote the first part of this in 2009, and it was posted to ff.net. When putting it up here, I decided it needed a slight re-write, with a second chapter added for a bit of further clarity... but some things are still left vague and open ended on purpose. Suffice to say, he WILL get Ianto back. And maybe more...

Jack Harkness looked up as the footsteps that had been echoing down the long, dark hallway stopped in front of his cell. He showed no surprise at the visitor, actually there was no emotion at all on the once expressive face.

"Jack," the Doctor greeted with a nod, trying to gauge his old friend's mood and failing.

"You know," Jack began with a slight grin. "For a man who's supposed to be in solitary lock down, I'm sure getting a lot of visitors."

"Who _else_ has visited you?" The Doctor asked suspiciously.

Jack said nothing, merely fiddled absently with the vortex manipulator on his wrist.

"Shouldn't you be on earth? In Cardiff protecting the planet from hostile aliens and working with that Torchwood team you created in my honor?" The Doctor was baiting him for a reaction of course; he knew exactly what had transpired the past year of Jack's life. He was trying to find a way to reach his old friend, to pull him out of the apathy he'd obviously fallen into.

"I don't do that anymore," Jack answered, some fire returning to his dead eyes. "Let the planet go to bloody hell for all I care."

"Why didn't you contact me, Jack?" he asked more gently.

Harkness pinned him with an intense and knowing gaze. "Would you have helped me?" He broke eye contact almost immediately and shook his head. "I wouldn't ask you to compromise the precious timeline just for my petty problems," he bit out scathingly.

"You know how that works," the Doctor said, not unkindly.

It wasn't that the Doctor didn't understand; he knew all too well the pain that being immortal caused Jack. Harkness had lived with it for several lifetimes, lost countless lovers to old age, or early death. He'd made more impossible decisions than any man or even hero should have to make, watched people die because of those decisions, and survived. It had never broken him, not like this. He'd always bounced back and kept on fighting the good fight. Even when his old time agency partner, John Hart, had tempted him to return to a life of cons and debauchery, he'd held fast to the things he believed in. Yet something fundamental had changed in the man now. Over the past few months he'd gotten into more than one spot of trouble, and been single mindedly determined to threaten the stability of the universe by getting involved in schemes that were forbidden. Ones that involved messing about with time.

"This is the way it's always been," the Doctor reminded him. "You've always known that. Why now?” _ What made this time so different?_

Jack's eyes rose to meet the Doctor's, red rimmed and filled with a depth of pain that was inexplicable. "I don't think you're asking me why I'm mourning the fact that I killed my own grandson. So, why _him_? Ianto," Jack whispered. "I don't know." And the naked pain and bewilderment in his voice was genuine.

"Why is he so different from all the others?" The Doctor asked, trying to figure out the puzzle in front of him, now that they'd both abandoned the pretense of it being about anything – or anyone else. Just one young Welshman, someone Jack had only known for a few years. Nothing remarkable, someone who would be quickly forgotten as time marched on. To risk so much for so little didn't seem like Jack at all.

Not that it would stop there. That was the dangerous lure of time travel. Once you succeeded in changing one thing, it became so much easier to go back, do more damage. Change the bigger things. It could be like a drug. Especially when you had as many things to wish you could do over as Jack Harkness.

Jack rose gracefully to his feet, grabbing the bars of his cell in a white-knuckled grip. "Maybe because it's too much. Maybe because I'm tired and sick of it all, and I never signed up for all this!" his voice had gotten progressively louder. "I never asked for immortality!" he spat it out like a dirty word. "I did everything I was supposed to do and I'm just…tired of the right thing always hurting. Okay, I probably deserve to lose my family by my own hand, if I'm wrong then they must be too, right Doc? But not _him_… He didn't deserve to die."

Jack slowly sank back down onto the floor. "I want Ianto back," he said so quietly the Doctor almost missed it. "Maybe then I could make sense of everything…" he said, rubbing his forehead as if he was trying to rid himself of confusion or pain.

"I guess there's nothing else to say then, Jack," the Doctor noted with sadness. He'd hoped he would be able to get through to the immortal, but it wasn't to be. There didn't seem to be anything rational left in Jack to reason with. He started to turn away.

Jack unexpectedly spoke up again. "He's the first one I told my secrets too in… a long time. He stood loyally by my side, no matter how I treated him, or any of them. He understood. He _believed_ in me. And because of his trust and faith, I got him killed."

"Is that what this is all about then?" The Doctor queried, a small kernel of hope returning. "Guilt?"

Jack laughed, but it was more chilling than pleasant. "It's about _love_."

Love. The most unpredictable force in the universe, the one that often made no logical sense. With no rhythm or reason, yet once in its hold most people were vulnerable to committing any crime, any betrayal or sacrificial act in its name. The most dangerous power in the entire universe, yet there was no weapon against it. Some people believed it to be mankind's ultimate salvation; others its final destruction. Yet if a Time Lord knew the answer, he would keep the knowledge to himself forever.

“What would you do if I helped you get out of here?” he asked Jack. He needed to know how much risk Jack was now, to make his decision.

“Don't ask, don't tell.” Jack smirked belligerently.

The Doctor didn't stop to wonder why Jack hadn't lied. All he knew was regret that his friend would have to remain in prison for the length of his sentence. Hopefully it would give him time to think, to put the past behind him and stop his self destructive behavior. All of it.

"I'm sorry, Jack." The Doctor started walking down the hallway again; regret weighing heavily on his mind. If there was a way to 'fix' the immortal, he didn't know what it was. Sometimes… the losses were just too much to recover from.

He wasn't sure why, but something made him turn back one last time, for one final look at the man he'd known.

The cell was empty.

**The end of chapter one**


	2. Worth the Risk

Jack materialized at the prearranged rendezvous point on the other side of the planet. It was a safe place to meet, the neighborhood was under the protection of the local criminal element and had an energy damper in effect, so the authorities wouldn't be able to trace the two former time agents there.

John Hart stood leaning against a building, waiting for him. “Any problems?”

“Smooth as silk,” Jack responded with a grin. He had to admit, there _was_ some pleasure in beating the system. He had no desire to go back to the life John still led, but sometimes you had to find loopholes in the rules. “Thanks for fixing my VM.”

“You'll be hearing from me when I want to collect the favor you owe me. Try not to destroy the universe in the meantime, right?”

Jack snorted. “As if. How long was I a Time Agent? That's what we were trained to prevent, remember?”

“No, actually, I was hungover during that class. That's what I had you around for.”

“_Now_ he tells me. Okay, I've got to get out of here,” Jack said, entering the next coordinates into his Wrist Strap. “It might be safe from the planetary police here, but just in case I end up with an angry Time Lord looking for me.”

“Don't come to me next time you let him emasculate you, it wasn't easy getting that Vortex Manipulator of yours working again.”

“You're a bastion of altruism, John. I'd say hope to see you soon, but frankly I'm hoping it'll be awhile. The longer the better.”

“After I helped you escape prison and everything. I'm wounded. Say hi to eye candy for me.”

Sometimes you had to find the loopholes. Take the chances, no matter how daunting. Go to the ends of the Universe to make it right, to fight for love. Ianto Jones had known all about going to extraordinary lengths to save a loved one. Even to sacrifice himself, if it came to that. He deserved no less.

Jack stood up straight and gave John a jaunty, sloppy salute. Then he pushed the button on his strap and vanished.

Some people are worth the risk.

**the end**

8/18/19


End file.
